There is a general need for extremely hard materials in many fields of application. These applications may be as tools for cutting, turning, milling, drilling, sawing or grinding operations etc. In WO 99/12866 and WO 00/18702 methods using controlled graphitization of diamonds are known for manufacturing diamond composite materials having excellent properties for such applications. There is also a need for a material with extreme thermal conductivity to improve resistance to thermal chock, wear resistance and also for cooling electronic components like microprocessors. In WO 02/42240 the use of such method is known for manufacturing a composite material having a high thermal conductivity.
The object of the present invention is to improve such a method in such a way that the forming of the composite is facilitated, thereby enabling bodies having complex and very precise forms to be manufactured. The object of the invention is also a material produced by the method with improved performance.